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My Top 11 Reviews of 2015
So, it's that time of the year when I look back on how I spent my time. I've tried doing a lot of things this year, from learning to draw to trying to write a spoof movie to creating a fantasy world. And I've been doing reviews. Not as much as the years prior, but I've still been doing them. Like I said, there were times when I did feel a significant burnout and laid off the reviewing. On the flipside however, this year I can't find many reviews that I'm actively disappointed with. I don't think there are any reviews like It's a Wishful Life where I wasn't prepared for what an episode/movie had to offer. And I don't think there were any reviews like Nobody Doesn't Like TJ where I didn't explain myself well enough. There were less reviews over-all, but I don't think there were any reviews where I made them just to "get something out." Some of the reviews I made this year were some of my all out favorites. And yeah, I do complain about some of the negative aspects of doing this but I need to remind myself that I should probably look past of some of the things that annoy me because there really is no better job in the world. So, let's count down my favorites and I'll give you some commentary on my thought process behind them. Number 11: May the Farce Be With You and the Happy Days Gang {Atrocity} If you ask me what is the best mistake in animation history, this show would be it. Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, let's be honest, is perfect fodder for the "it's so bad, it's good." I probably won't review the other episodes, but at some point I'm definitely going to watch them. I keep saying that my favorite kind of bad is the bad that makes you wonder why. It makes you wonder where these choices came from, and question the thought process behind them. So, we have sitcom character time traveling with a talking dog and a girl from the future named Cupcake. And the show treats the Fonz almost like a god. It feels like a meta parody of the Chuck Norris meme that was going on a few years ago. I mean, what could be better. I get to rant at something that wasn't very painful to watch. And yes, it still falls under the banner of atrocity because... it really feels like they weren't putting effort into it. They just accidentally fell into... utter ridiculous hilarity. But seriously, when your parents say how good cartoons were back in their childhood, this is a pretty good to point to in rebuttal. Number 10: The Pom-Pom Girl Life Me {Atrocity} My Life Me is possibly more bizarre than Fonz and the Happy Days Gang. So, my friends and I, all tried to watch the first episode. And absolutely no one could figure out what was going on. My Life Me is another one of those curiosities that I'd recommend you watch because in on review there's no way I could convey every little thing that was wrong with it. This is the kind of review where I could act as confused and angry as I wanted and not feel guilty, and that's cathartic sometimes, you know. The WTF factor is probably one of the things that helps me get the best reviews. You cannot believe that someone made this, and let it slide. I put this episode on my worst list, but it didn't exactly make me angry. It couldn't make me angry because to this day I have no idea what actually happened in the episode despite doing a review on it and watching the episode itself four times. And none of my friends did either. And yes, I got that manga hand thing wrong. If there was a recurring theme this year, it's that I've been making a lot of mistakes about other cultures. But there will be a time and place to delve deeper into that. My Life Me is just a show that's fun to make fun of. I might do another review on it at some point, because there's no way the other episodes won't give me more unique material. Number 9: Numbers Game Planet {Atrocity} Okay, first of all, I think that the jokes in this review were great. Kimberly and Nick did a great job, and I'll be sure to use their talents in the future. One thing that I've grown to like doing is take on the ignorance about a specific topic that an episode thinks it knows, but doesn't really. Do people really listen to shows like this, or like Family Guy? Honestly, I don't know, but that's not an excuse for the show's ignorance. And people do justify all kinds of inane bullshit on what they saw in their media. And honestly, the way that most people talk about overpopulation annoys me. They go into full panic mode, saying that we'll be all out of food by 2050 and then there will be water wars and it will blast us all to the stone age. The problem is that this issue is not straight forward at all. With our current food production, we have the ability to feed at least 10 billion people, there are more overweight people in the world than starving people, and agricultural sciences are constantly developing. How overpopulation works may defy common logic. Basically, the more developed a nation is, the lower their birth rate will be. Most first world countries, where these overpopulation scares go around, have fertility rates below replacement level. Why is this? There are lot of reasons, like increased access to sex education and contraception. There are cultural reasons. Also, the richer you are, the more expensive it is to raise a child (this is difficult to explain). In developing countries, people feel that they need as many children as possible to take care of them if they become infirm. That's something we don't really feel in developed nations. Also, fear of overpopulation tends to border on anti-natalism, which is the philosophy that giving birth is an intrinsically bad thing. It's basically the belief that a human being does more harm to the world than good, either philosophically, in suffering, or in environmentalism. And like I said, we have enough resources to feed everyone in the world. Instead of worrying about a possible eventual problem, we can figure out how to get food from point A to point B because that's the bigger issue. The more developed the world becomes, the more the birth rate will fall. It just really annoys me how this problem seems to be conveyed in our media and news reports. Number 8: Perfect the Cowardly Dog {Admirable} Squeezing in towards the end of the year, we have Courage. For awhile I imposed a limit on myself. I've done enough admirables on this show, maybe I should just leave it alone from now on. But in all honesty that's kind of stupid. If I have something to say, I have something to say. Especially when people don't seem to realize some of the deeper meanings of the episode. Perfect is truly an amazing episode, and like Last of the Starmakers it means a lot to me. I've battled with a lot of insecurities throughout the year and taking a deeper look into this was exactly what I needed. Some advice that people give you when you start doing YouTube is "don't read the comments." They have the reputation for being just full of bile and hatred. And yeah, that exists, it's largely bullshit. The comments that I've gotten on this video is a lot of the reason why I chose to review animation in the first place. Seeing people thanking me for opening their eyes to a new aspect of the episode is an amazing feeling. And of course, I hear stories of how a certain episode touched a person's life is just a nice thing to do. I read as many comments as possible, even if I don't often respond, and I will admit that it's impossible for me to read every single comment out there even if Google's comment system wasn't entirely jacked. You know that little bell thing? No joke, sometimes it literally says that I have infinity comments. Even if I was continually reading comments I would not be able to read every comment that I get, but I do go look in the comment section of my recent videos generally until they die down. Number 7: The Return of Slade Titans Go {Atrocity} At this point, I've got an... interesting relationship with Teen Titans Go. Teen Titans Go has become for me what Spongebob was back at the beginning. It's a show that fails a lot and fails in interesting ways. Generally, whatever episode I review will give me good material. To start off, no, not every episode of Teen Titans Go is bad. Serious, and on my honor. A good episode, right off the top of my head Video Game References. Why do I talk about this show so much? Because I like to talk about it. My sister and I were flipping through channels until we got to an episode of Teen Titans Go, and we just riffed it. It's a fun thing to do. People have asked me if I just review this show so much because it gets me a lot of views. No. I wouldn't do that. I put how much I want to review something ahead of how much views I'd get because the reviews turn out better that way. So, why do I review this show? Because it's a lot like a good villain. It's the kind of thing you love to hate, you know? Teen Titans Go is just fun to riff. Because they do things like this episode, and The Fourth Wall (which I probably won't review because I've already reviewed The Return of Slade). If there is something that really does bug me about Teen Titans Go, it's the messages that it has. I know that they usually don't take them seriously, like in Staring the Future or Boys vs. Girls. However, I'm pretty sure they were taking this one fairly seriously. If you remember correctly, I reviewed this episode with that marathon of 70's animation fresh in my mind. The Return of Slade had the exact same mindset that created those shows in the 70's, and nearly killed the medium. And yes, this episode brought up a lot of the arguments that my detractors use. Mostly the "you're just nostalgia blind" argument. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't cathartic taking down that argument because it's just so ridiculous. There are plenty of awful cartoons from the past, and there are plenty of great ones today. And the message about just forgetting your childhood is... not a good one. A lot of people develop their lifelong passions when they were children, especially when it comes to media and entertainment. How many kids today you think are playing Minecraft and dreaming to become a video game designer? Seeing shows like MLP and wanting to start drawing or animating? Some people do get nostalgia blind sure, but the way they conveyed it in this episode was horrible. So, why wasn't this episode on the worst-of list? It had all of the components that I tend to hate in episodes after all. Well, it was number 12. Boys vs. Girls just made me more angry. Give it this, I've never seen any show do something like this for the entirety of the episode. Twice. Number 6: Time Twister Solverz {Atrocity} People were right back at the time, I was getting way too angry in my reviews. Through season 2, and a lot of season 3 of Animated Atrocities I was challenging myself with more and more. I was challenging myself with more gross, more annoying, lazier, and stupider stuff. And it was driving me towards a more caustic self, something I don't think that I really want to be. There's a place for anger, and there will be in the future, but going rage all the time isn't the wisest option. My anger was definitely more of a problem than just insulting random people. It made some of my reviews difficult to enjoy. My focus was always meant to be dissecting the problems of an episode and giving it a comprehensive analysis. Not shouting like a moron. And yeah, people were calling me out on it. I don't know if it was really Ren Seeks Help specifically that sparked "angry all the time" like I blamed in the review, but it was something that definitely needed to be put in check. And this review was an important reminder to myself, if anything. Especially important because this review came right after the Elf Bowling ''review, and yeah in hindsight... way, ''way too angry. Even though that movie is abominable. And yes, I've had spikes and sparks of anger since, and there will always be pet peeves that set me off, but sometimes there's an aspect of yourself that you need to address and just deal with it. And yeah, it does feel good just shouting and yelling at random. But that's not a good thing. If you actually do have anger, the last thing you should is vent. Luckily most of the shouting and stuff wasn't actually anger. A lot of it was acting. If someone in my real life pisses me off, more often than not I tend to ignore them. That's not the healthiest option either, but still. There's a time and place to be angry in a review, and doing it too much undermines what anger means. And I want to thank you guys for reminding me of that. Will the Crazy Old Guy come back? Um... sure. Why not. Who is he? I dunno. Number 5: Test of the Tested Fillmore {Admirable} I can sum this up as standardized tests are bullshit, and I got to call them out as bullshit. And you're looking at a guy who never had a problem taking standardized tests. One thing I would like to know is if you guys like episodes like this. Episodes where we talk about more tangential topics. They're probably going to be the majority of Family Guy reviews. I can't think of many Family Guy episodes that failed because of an aspect other than the message they failed to pull off. I know plenty of episodes that failed on other accounts in addition to their botched message. And, these kind of episodes will definitely be tied into any educational shows that I tackle. Number 4: Drawn Together: The Movie {Atrocity} So, the reaction to the review is kind of mixed. Maybe it's just the... pain I had to go through to review this, but I like the end result. I can't say that I had too much fun during the actual reviewing process, but I think this review has some of my best jokes. Although not my absolute favorite jokes (maybe that's another list altogether). I've had some of my friends ask me what was the stuff that I actually censored in the video, and... they didn't really believe me. Then again, it's hard to describe. I don't really think that there's a better thing I could have selected for a grand 100th review, because... if I could use an analogy, it had that "final boss" aspect. It took a lot of the stuff that I've already called out - clipout animation, lazy writing, shock for shock's sake, insulting the audience directly, stupid morals, and ramped it up. People have asked me, which is worse? This or Where the Dead Go to Die. If this were bad as Where the Dead Go to Die, I wouldn't have reviewed it. And asking if it's worse than Screams in Silence is kind of comparing apples to oranges. There's probably something worse out there and some day I'll probably find it, but we'll deal with that when the day comes. I am going to have to review something for like either the 200th or 250th episode spectacular. Maybe at some point I'll do a commentary of this. I haven't done a commentary in awhile because it's hard to come up with things on the spot for such a large review. Number 3: Eras of Animation: Pre 1910's Yes this counts as a review. The whole idea started with me wanting to do an Admirable Animation on some of the animations that helped create the medium, Fantasmagorie and Humorous Phases of Funny Faces. I also wanted to do admirables of things like Gertie the Dinosaur and the Alice Comedies and a lot of things all throughout animation history. But the problem is that a lot of these things were really... too short to turn into a full admirable video. I mean as much as I love Bambi Meets Godzilla I probably couldn't talk about it for more than like 3 minutes. So the solution was to try and make a sort of documentary (for some reason I want to make documentaries), and it was at this point my special interest had just become history. So everything worked out perfectly. This video was a learning experience for as much as me as it was the audience. It was a little experiment that I think bears repeating. I've said this before, but the reason number two is taking so long is for... multiple reasons. The most notable figure of the 1910's was Winsor McCay, but he wasn't the only guy. I've got to talk about a guy Quirino Cristiani. He made the first two animated films ever. The problem is that nothing of either of them exists. And the first film, El Apostel was a political satire about an Argentinian leader. I know nothing about Argentinian history. The first anime was made in the 1910's. Ladislav Starevich started making stop motion films around this time, but he continued making them until the 1950's. I need to figure out how to fit that into a decade by decade analysis. Rotoscoping was invented in the 1910's. The first animation studios opened in the 1910's. And like in the previous decade, a large problem is that a lot of very important stuff has been lost to history. The absolute minimum time the video would be is 20 minutes, but it's likely to be over 30. And it could take upward of a month of research. I mean, plenty of the rest of the world also begins animating in the 1910's. Number 2: Doggy Poo {Atrocity} 'Hey... I love this review. If there's something that I could point to as one of my defining reviews, this would be it. Honestly, I don't even remember how I discovered this. I was actually kind of conflicted if I should review this, believe it or not. The reason for that is largely cultural, and the same reason I was hesitant to review ''Stressed Eric. The rule that these two helped me come up with: if an edition was made for American audiences, I get to review it by American standards. Doggy Poo was originally a South Korean film, but it was eventually translated and released in the United States. And Stressed Eric had a whole American version made. We've heard of all kinds of weird things about Japan, but... South Korea is kind of obsessed with poo. In South Korea you can find a lot of things like stuffed animals shaped in a poo swirl. So, it actually doesn't surprise me that this movie was made. Does that make it a good film? No, it's still very melodramatic. You know, the cute character just beaten down by the world because it's a cruel place for such an innocent character. And then there there was the talk about the absolute end of existence. There are few things that I'd say absolutely do not belong in something aimed at children, and that would be one of them. It's basically the atheist view of death. When you're dead, that's it. You don't even get eternal black. You just get literally nothing. Your perception is turned off. Like being under general anesthesia. If you believe in that, great. That's fine. I just... wouldn't tell that to kids. Even from an adult perspective, it's an intensely frighting concept. It's one thing to present kids with the concept and inevitability of death, ala Bambi and The Lion King but hitting them with that kind of concept doesn't seem like the nicest thing in the world. Even if I was completely militantly atheistic (I'm agnostic), I wouldn't tell my kids this until I thought they were old enough to handle it. Other than that, I will say that this was just... fun to review. I mean, the film looks beautiful. I haven't seen such good stop motion in quite some time. But... the story is shit. Honestly, I don't think I made many "poo" jokes in that review. I don't think that I'll ever find something this... unique... as long as I live. I mean, I wouldn't feel bad for the guy who made it. He's obviously a great artist, and the film won two awards. Reviewing this was just, oddly enough, a pleasant experience from start to finish. '''Number 1: Screams in Silence - The Story of Brenda Q Guy {Atrocity} Putting my cards on the table: Parts I and II of this together now constitute my favorite review that I have ever made. And I like Part II more than I like Part I. Let's start off with this: Do I think that Family Guy's audience is going to believe its portrayal on the issue? Yes, because this is the portrayal of the issue. And as I've stated the portrayal of the issue is wrong. And Screams in Silence was so incompetent that it couldn't portray the wrong portrayal correctly. Brenda is portrayed as an idiot, and she's victim blamed for being an idiot. I don't know what the intention was here. My best guess is that they were trying to win an Emmy or something like that. This review is my favorite because I do hate how domestic abuse is portrayed in the media as a whole, and if anything I think it's important to start pointing that out. Most domestic abuse is not physical. Yet every single portrayal that I've ever seen (that was actually called domestic abuse/violence on screen) was physical. I mean people do abusive things to each other in sitcoms all the time. It's just not called abuse because it isn't physical. Is Screams in Silence the worst portrayal of this ever? I wouldn't go that far. It's a symptom of a more systemic problem, which like I said doesn't help anyone. When it comes to issues and problems like this, everyone likes to tout "awareness" like wearing a ribbon of any color helps to cure that cancer. The act of wearing a grey ribbon doesn't in itself cure brain cancer. But people do it like... the rest of society doesn't know that these issues existed. Does Screams in Silence raise awareness for domestic abuse? No, because we all know that domestic abuse happens. I can get more in depth about that at some other time though (here's a tip, it's a lot more helpful to point people towards a charity than wearing a ribbon.) Everything about the episode just managed to annoy me with its inaccuracy. Yes, it's generally unlikely for an abuser to become non-abusive, at least without help. But there are other options than murder, as the episode presents. Most heinously, it does one of the more despicable things when "raising awareness." It sacrifices realism for dramatization. I get that it's a cartoon, and Family Guy, and making things over-the-top is the name of the game, but... if it was doing its job properly it'd take a typical case and make that over-the-top. If the abuse wasn't physical in the episode, then it could have worked. It would have been difficult for the law to do anything; Brenda could have easily been in denial, thinking that Jeff wasn't hurting her. It's such an easy thing. Peter-Assment could have been fixed easily too, by the way. Most of that episode it works. Then at the end it becomes the most despicable piece of shit ever. A lot of people know that I grew up in a home that wasn't the happiest. My parents were abusive to each other, and it was rarely physical. There were times my mother broke into tears because of some of the things my step-father said. But they were mutual at sniping each other, and they tended to work together to snipe at the kids. As a youth I did look to domestic violence stats, help, and statistics. And one of the facts that kept popping up the most is that kids who witnessed abuse were like a bajillion times more likely to either become abusers or be abused themselves. I became afraid of entering relationships at all (this was before I knew I was asexual, and regardless I still do want to have a family some day). This was a more reassuring fear than fearing that I'd eventually become like them some day. Is the statistic true? I don't give a fuck. Whether or not that's true, we shouldn't be parading it around like we do. It doesn't help matters, because I'm positive that I'm not the only one who became afraid of themselves or entering relationships because of that news. You see this in television shows, movies, hear it in songs. The kid acts like his father. She does what her mother did. If there's anything that deserves my most primal wrath it's messages like this. If kids really are more likely to become abusers or be abused if their parents abuse each other, should we be doing nothing else but making them afraid? I mean, the kid who thinks he's going to become a monster is not going to want to tell anyone that his parents are beating the shit out of each other. A piece of media trying to portray domestic abuse like this can do one of two things: it can make you as scared as possible of it, or it can actually raise awareness of how it actually works. And all too often, our media does the former. Like I said in part two, when we create fictional people for charity, those fictional people get the charity. "The Ideal Victim" is a real thing in crime theory, and it's a horrible thing constructed by our news and our media. I don't know if my reviews affected anything, or changed anyone's perception, but so it goes. What was your guys' favorite reviews of mine from this year? And no, this isn't to stroke my ego. I genuinely want to know, so I know which directions to take my channel. Category:Top Tens